Heinlein's work is characterized by ordinary people cobbling together ordinary resources to do extraordinary things--like go to the moon. In Rocket Ship Galileo, three high school students and a nuclear physicist build a moon ship just because they can. It must have seemed possible in 1947, when that book came out. Then in the 1960s, NASA convinced everyone that only massive government programs could send people into space, and stories about people building spaceships in their back yards went by the wayside.

Now, finally, in the 21st century, science fact has caught up with the science fiction of the 1940s and 1950s. Private citizens are now building space ships for real, in large part because the winning of the Ansari X PRIZE proved it was possible.

The sad thing is that it could have been done much earlier, at least from a technological standpoint. It has been our own attitudes and policies holding us back.

Posted by Rand Simberg at May 27, 2006 09:13 AM

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If there is even one person out there interested in space, who hasn't read Heinlein, I've yet to meet them. Plenty of other SF writers have written space stories, But Heinlein's characters always fitted situations we could all have come from.

He made space accessible to all of us, not just a chosen, well educated, well conected few. Peter Diamandis is certainly following that dream.

Once upon a time, a junkman had a dream... "I'm gonna build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back and sell it." So he put together a team. An ex-astronaut...a fuel expert...they built a rocketship... And they went to the moon. Who knows what they'll do next?

Posted by at May 27, 2006 03:27 PM

For his lead X-Prize Cup pilot, Diamandis has chosen James R. Campbell. Campbell is widely known in the experimental aviation community - and not in a good way. Among other things, he's claimed to be a Japan Air Lines 747 pilot, a Viet Nam war hero, and a doctor. None of those things are true, and the FAA pulled his medical certificate due to his personality disorder. http://www.ousterhout.net/zoom/rjw-4661.html

He's been banned from the grounds at the "Sun and Fun" fly in because he kept threatening people. He continues to falsely claim many credentials. For example, he claims to have flown over 1000 different types of airplanes, and claims to have 13000 flight hours - though he's never worked as professional pilot, and the real record for number of aircraft types flown is in the 400 range (by Paul Poberezny). He claims he's a graduate of the Civilian Test Pilot School in Mojave - when he actually took a 1 week introductory course.

In short, the lead pilot for the X-Prize cup is a complete fraud. Is there any reason to believe the rest of the venture is any more real?

> For his lead X-Prize Cup pilot, Diamandis has chosen James R. Campbell.
> In short, the lead pilot for the X-Prize cup is a complete fraud. Is there any reason to believe the rest
> of the venture is any more real? Is there any reason to believe the rest of the venture is any more real?

Peter Diamandis has "chosen" a "lead pilot" for the X-Prize Cup?

That's like saying the organizer of the Indy 500 choses the lead driver. It's doubly bizarre since, to the best of my knowledge, none of the vehicles planning to compete in this year's X-Prize Cup will be piloted.

Posted by Edward Wright at May 27, 2006 10:02 PM

Looking at the X-Prize website, I see Jim Campbell mentioned as a photographer, not a "lead pilot."

It seems he is also part of an alleged "Conspiracy" involvng, among others, the X-Prize Foundation, the X-Cup, the Rocket Racing League, Space Adventures, "Thugs and Mobsters" at the Reno Air Racing Association, and the Airport Authority of Washoe County.

http://www.silverstatenews.com/legal.htm

(As an aside, why are most conspiracy theory websites so hard on the eyes? It almost seems like, well, you know... :-)

Posted by Edward Wright at May 27, 2006 11:54 PM

I find it interesting that Robert and Virginia left a half a million dollar prize. At one point, shortly after Heinlein's death, Virginia who was then in poor health was said to be doing very poorly financially, hence the publication of his controversial letters and an old travel book. Glad to see they were able to turn it around and leave something for someone else.